It is a busy time in K-State athletics with the football team coming down the home stretch and both the men’s and women’s basketball programs starting their seasons. Here’s a recap of what’s going on this week in Manhattan….

“Well yeah, we absolutely need to move on, but I’m happy for those seniors that came back or the seniors that are deciding what they’re going to do that they know that on their last go round, they’re going to get a chance to play postseason football. I think that’s really important to those guys.”…Chris Klieman, 11/09/21

JM: It’s nice to be bowl eligible in football, but it would be even nicer if the football team can finish the season with three more wins and finish at 9-3.

“Taiten decided to hang it up. He had an injury and didn’t know if he could come back from that and decided to step aside and focus on his academics. Tremendous amount of respect for Taiten and wish him nothing but the best. It wasn’t something where he got in trouble, or we asked him not to come back. He had an injury and didn’t think he was going to be healthy enough to finish it out and wants to get his degree. So, tremendous amount of respect for Taiten.”…Chris Klieman, 11/09/21

JM: Taiten Winkel leaving the team means the kicking duties go to true freshman Chris Tennant. Tennant was kicking for Mill Valley High School last fall, but Chris Klieman seems to have a lot of confidence in him….

“Chris (Tennant) has continued to take half of the reps all season long because we always thought it was an ongoing battle. But, now it just brings Ty (Zentner) back to the forefront of he may be an option. We just had taken that off his plate. He was just kicking off and punting. Now he becomes a field goal kicker as well. So, you’ve got another senior that’s a reliable guy that the moment won’t get to him, so he just takes more of those reps.”…Chris Klieman, 11/09/21

JM: I have a feeling these last three games are all going to be close and the kicking game may play a key role in the outcome.

“We haven’t beat West Virginia since 2015, the year before I got here. It’s definitely been discussed in our team meetings and stuff like that.”…Skylar Thompson, 11/09/21

JM: It’s time to beat these guys. Been too long.

“Sophomore reserve Selton Miguel scored all 10 of his points in a pivotal stretch in the second half to help propel K-State past Florida A&M, 67-57, in the season opener for both teams on Wednesday night before 5,296 fans at Bramlage Coliseum.”…www.kstatesports.com, 11/10/21

JM: The K-State basketball team struggled with Florida A&M most of the night. If not for Selton Miguel’s big second half, the result of this game may have been different.

“They’ve (Florida A&M) got a sixth-year guy, they’ve got two fifth-year guys, they’ve got a four-year guy, they’re older.”…Bruce Weber, 11/10/21

JM: Bruce had gone from “we’re a young team” to “they’re older than us.” That’s a bold strategy, Cotton.

“They’ve got older guys and he (Logan Landers) struggled defensively right away when he got in.”…Bruce Weber, 11/10/21

JM: Yes, Florida A&M is older, but why the need to point this out? Number one, it’s your fault that they’re older. Number two, you play in the Big 12. You should expect to beat a team like Florida A&M handily, no matter how “old” they are.

“Again, they’re (Florida A&M) older, they’re tough.”…Bruce Weber, 11/10/21

JM: Three times in the post-game press conference he mentioned that Florida A&M is older. It was the main excuse he used to try and explain why the game was close.

“Selton Miguel came in- five straight buckets and then five straight stops. That was the determining factor in that game. He played on the back, and took us on a run.”…Nigel Pack, 11/10/21

JM: I’ve been impressed with Selton Miguel so far. Playing for Angola in the Olympic qualifying tournament over the summer seems to have helped him develop his game.

“Ayoka Lee set a new Kansas State women’s single-game scoring record with 43 points in the Wildcats’ 103-40 season-opening win over Central Arkansas on Tuesday.

Lee broke the record set by Brittany Chambers, who scored 42 points on March 21, 2013, when the Wildcats faced Texas Southern in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. Lee is just the third player in program history to score at least 40 points in a single game.

Earlier on Tuesday, Lee learned that she had been named to both the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Watch List and the Wooden Award Women’s Top 50 Preseason Watch List.”…Matthew Postins, Heartland College Sports

JM: The 6’6″ junior center added her name to the K-State record books on Tuesday. What a game she had.

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